


Things You Can't Out Run

by ZpanSven



Series: Carrie Allen is the Flash [5]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014), The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Gen, Gender or Sex Swap, Genderbending, Rule 63
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-16
Updated: 2015-05-22
Packaged: 2018-03-30 18:40:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 6,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3947515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZpanSven/pseuds/ZpanSven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes you can't run away from everything... Especially not a meta who can take the form of a lethal cloud of gas...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was great to be able to get out with Iris; a girls night at the movies was just what they needed. No boys - just the two of them, extra large sodas, and a jumbo bucket of buttery popcorn goodness while the horror movie flickered on the big screen.

As they filed out of the movie theater, Carrie couldn't help but note: “One a regular movie scale I'd give it a seven or eight. Zombie movie scale? A four, tops.”

“There's a zombie movie scale?” Iris snickered.

“Of course. And did you know there are actual zombies that exist?” she asked and Iris arched her eyebrows at her. “Not like in the movies – there's this fungi that infests ants...”

She trailed off at Iris's expression. “I started going full nerd again didn't I?”

“You did,” she chortled. “Lucky for you, Care-bear, you're the most adorable nerd I know. I'll have to see if I can find you someone who can enjoy that trait as much as you do.”

Carrie blushed hotly. “Well...I mean...”

“Oh sweetie. I know how much you like him but I doubt he's looking for romance right now, not after well...” Iris trailed off, not wanting to bring up the night the particle accelerator exploded.

“...yeah...” she sighed glumly.

Iris bumped shoulders with her, “You know I am all the more interested in the amazing of late...”

“You mean 'cause of the 'red streak' thing?” she asked, feeling guilty; how she just wanted to tell her---

“Yup. He's out there! So many people are seeing him and talking about him,”

“So how do you know its a he? Could be a she,” she said, trying to drop a hint.

“Hmm. Maybe. But a lot of people think it's a he, so I'm defaulting to he. Would be cool if the red streak was a woman though...” Iris fished out her phone, pulling up a picture; she showed it to Carrie. “See this what someone took when they were being pulled from a car accident.”

She giggled, “No its not. That's your boyfriend calling.”

“Oh! I should totally get this, I'm staying over and he's supposed to leave a key for me...” Iris took the call and she felt a twinge of envy watching her sister's eye light up like that.

The only man that made her feel like that was Dr Wells but...Iris was probably right. He probably just saw her as a kid he was mentoring....he was so much older than she was and still grieving Tess Morgan...

As Iris wandered away to throw away her empty soda cup, Carrie's own phone rang; it was STAR Labs. Oh come on it was girls' night... “Hello?”

“There's a code 237 on Waid boulevard,” Cisco informed her and she looked at her phone as though Cisco could see the incredulous look she was giving it...and him.

Placing the phone back up she repeated: “Public indecency?!”

“Oh...wait I think I mean a 239?”

“Dog leash violation?” she repeated in growing confusion.

“Bad man with a gun in a getaway car!” Caitlin interjected. “Go!”

She glanced over at Iris; good still wrapped up in her conversation. Like that, Carrie was off towards Waid Boulevard. It wasn't hard to find the vehicle in question – the driver was shooting at a squad car. In a crackle of lightning, she sped forward, disarming the gunman and pulling him from the driver's side of the pickup and depositing him into the back of the squad car, his hands cuffed securely.

Carrie wondered what they officer's faces looked like when they realized what had happen as she sped back to Iris's side. She was there as Iris hung up and turned around.

“Did you guys figure everything out?” she asked.

“Yup. Eddie says hi, by the way.”

“Cool. You now he should totally just give you a key. You two have been together how long now?” she asked in curiosity as they walked off, arm in arm. She sniffed the air as they passed by a restaurant, “Oh something smells divine. We should totally try this place next movie night...”

“Ooh it does smell good. I might have to drop hints to Eddie...maybe see about a double date? Some of his friends are single...”

“Okay, okay...I'll let you put me through blind dates if it'll make you happy...”


	2. Chapter 2

She watched Joe speaking with a pair of patrolmen that looked familiar and from the conversation figured they were in the squad car last night.

“You come on by later, Joe, I'll give you a driving lesson,” one of the patrolmen joked and she frowned faintly, hugging a stack of folders to her chest as Joe stepped up beside her. 

“You've forgotten more about driving then they'll ever know,” she muttered hotly. “And you did it by yourself!”

“Mmm?” he glanced over at her. “I take it that was you last night?”

“Yes,” she shuffled the stack of folders she held as a distraction. “...its really hard keeping this a secret from Iris... We always tell each other everything...”

“I know, Care-bear, but its safer for her this way,” he reassured her. “Besides, you and me? We got work to do.”

She stared at the evidence box – older, dusty, and with the name of Allen on it – that he deposited on her work table. Swallowing she glanced over at him. “Is that...my Mom's case...?”

“Yup. Its everything that was in storage,” he replied and glanced at her. 

“I've been through this box what seems like a thousand times...” she said faintly.

“Before I knew what you was saying was true, when I thought it was something you were saying to protect your Dad. But now...now we can look at it together, with a fresh perspective and see what might have been missed.”

“It only took the jury fifty-two minutes to come back with their guilty verdict...” she said softly.

“That's because they moved to fast. Speed isn't everything, Carrie. Sometimes you need to slow down and take your time. That's why we will be taking our time looking over everything.”

As she was about to open the evidence box, Eddie hurried in; there was a strain at his features that had them both looking at him in alarm. “Carrie, Joe, we got to go – we have multiple homicides...are you two familiar with the Darbiyan crime family?”

\----

“Carrie?” Joe's voice drifted to her as she covered the man's face.

“Mmm?”

“Anything?”

Her head tilted back to regard him, her blonde brows drawn together in thought. “They show signs of histotoxic hypoxia...”

There was a blank look on Joe's face and she continued. “The cells in their body were unable to utilize oxygen...its consistent with exposure to some sort of poison gas.”

He looked more than a little alarmed. “What kind of poison.”

“I'd need a biopsy of their lung tissue to determine that,” she sighed.

“The only other exit was bolted from the inside,” Eddie told them as he walked up. “They were trapped. I'm thinking maybe someone pumped gas in from the outside...but the witnesses say the street was empty.”

“So it was from the inside? That means there has to be a canister or container that was left behind,” Joe said, even as Carrie rose to her feet, her gaze sweeping over the crime-scene. “I mean this gas couldn't have just come in by itself...”

His eyes meet Carrie's and she was shaking her head in disagreement; Joe's brow arched and he looked over at Eddie. “Why not try canvassing again? Someone had to have seen something...”

“With how busy it was last night, definitely,” Carrie agreed.

“You were here?” Joe looked surprised.

“Not in here but Iris and I walked this past this place on the way home from the movies last night. And it was pretty crowded on the sidewalk,” she replied.

“I'll check the traffic cameras again, see if there's anything suspicious,” Eddie said and headed off.

Joe tilted his head at her. “You looked like you had something else you wanted to say, Care-bear.”

“The way they are all located....the way they fell...it couldn't have been a canister,” she stood, gesturing to the respective bodies bodies. “The boss, he's collapsed here by the table. This other man, is ten feet away. While this guy was able to get all the way over there and still try to shoot out the window.”

“...and....?”

“They all started at the same spot, the table. If they were all exposed by the gas at the same time they shouldn't have been able to move this far away. Its like the gas was attacking them one by one...” She looked over at him. “This defies normal science and that means to solve this, you and I are going to need--”

“Back up,” Joe sighed. “From your new friends.”

“Yes.”


	3. Chapter 3

“Fascinating...a meta-human that can use poison gas...” Dr Wells looked back and forth between where Carrie and Joe stood on the other side of the monitors.

“Is it just poisonous gas, or can he control all aerated substances?” Cisco asked as he and Caitlin headed over to their computers located beside Dr Wells.

“And how is he able to formulate the concoction? Is it psychological or physiological?” Caitlin pondered as she sat down.

“This individual can create a mental nexus using gaseous substances,” Dr Wells was tapping away on his keyboard.

“You mean connect to gases on a molecular level?” Cisco's eyes went huge as he looked over at Dr Wells.

“Yes,” Dr Wells nodded.

“This is ridiculously cool,” Cisco practically squealed in glee.

“They get very excited about this kind of stuff,” Carrie said in a stage whisper to Joe.

“The only thing I'm excited about is putting criminals behind bars,” Joe retorted and frowned in concern. “Except Iron Heights isn't equipped to handle meta-humans...”

“Then its fortunate the ones you have encountered so far are no longer with us,” Dr Wells said as he glanced up from his monitor again.

“Well, unless we're planning to execute ever single super criminal we come across, you geniuses are going to have to come up with some way to contain them...”

“A Meta- human prison? Sweet...” Cisco whistled and Joe gave a faint shrug of agreement.

“Unless we can find a way to remove or suppress their powers...” Dr Wells replied. “If we can do than, then they can be contained in any regular prison...”

“There is only one place that might be able to hold them,” there was a hesitation in Cisco's voice.

“You can't be serious,” Caitlin and Dr Wells were both looking at the younger man; Carrie blinked at him while Joe felt more than a little lost. “I mean, we haven't been down there since-” she stopped and took a jerky breath and finished: “Its cordoned off.”

“Cisco is right,” Dr Wells said softly. “It could be modified to act as a make-shift prison...”

“What could?” She blinked at him in bafflement.

Dr Wells's blue eyes piercing into Carrie's and she felt that damnable blush rise in her cheeks as he answered: “The Particle Accelerator.”

Oh.

Carrie watched the color drain from Caitlin's face as she looked down at her hands, that no longer rested on her keyboard. 

“Caitlin?” Dr Wells was trying to get her attention. “Caitlin? Did you hear me? We're going down to the accelerator ring.”

“Actually, Dr Wells,” Carrie interjected, her heart going out to the flicker of terror and pain that just went through Caitlin's eyes, “I could actually use her help up here analyzing the poison gas...”

Dr Wells glanced between the two women and nodded. “Okay.”

“If that's okay with you?” Carrie asked Caitlin hesitantly.

“Lets go.”

\------

“Welcome to the CCPD,” Carrie told Caitlin as they walked into the building; it was loud and bustling with activity. To her, this was normal though Caitlin was looking around, unused to the organized chaos of a police department.

“So this is your day-job?” 

“Mm-hmm.”

“Wow.”

Right that second a hand-cuffed prisoner was pushed between the two women; the greasy man leered at them both. “I'm going to rip out your hearts and eat 'em for lunch!”

“Delightful,” Caitlin said in disdain while Carrie shrugged at her sheepishly.

And that was when a female detective walked up, depositing an evidence bag containing a semi-automatic in Carrie's hands. “Lab rat! I need prints off this gun. Pronto!”

And without a please or thank you, the woman walked off, Caitlin giving her an arched look at the rude way she had addressed Carrie. “Seriously?”

“...that is sadly very normal,” she whispered back.

“Allen!” Captain Singh bellowed and Carrie jumped as he stormed up to them. “Where the hell is the fiber analysis on the Orloff case?”

“Upstairs.” Carrie squeaked, pointing in the vague direction of her lab. He arched his brows at her in a 'And?' manner. “Its all finished – I can run up there get it now for you...”

He snorted at her. “With you that can be three days from now. I'll go with you.”

Thankfully he looked over at Caitlin and with that distraction, Carrie sped away in a blur up the stairs.

In her lab, she sped around, gathering up the results and placing them in a folder. Several other reports had been scattered about by the wind she had generated with her movements. 'Note to self – invest in paperweights,' she thought, setting the folder on her work table and picking up the stray papers.

She turned as Captain Singh and Caitlin walked through the door.

“The results for the Orloff case, just like you asked, sir,” she gestured to the folder on her table with the stack of papers in her hand.

He picked up the folder and looked at it, her, and then at the few pieces of paper she was still gathering. “Clean up your lab. Its a mess.”


	4. Chapter 4

For someone with super-speed waiting could be torture; the results seemed to be lingering at eighty-four percent forever. She'd already finished the fingerprint analyze on the gun and other simple tasks, up to and including cleaning her lab from top to bottom.

Looking over at where Caitlin sat, she could see the older woman was perhaps equally as bored, going though her phone.

“...is it alright if I ask you a question you don't have to answer...?”

“My least favorite kind,” Caitlin sighed before giving a nod with a grimace. “Go on.”

“Ronnie – what was he like...?” Carrie cringed as Caitlin looked over the monitor sto pin her with a look. “I just....you never talk about him much...”

Caitlin seemed to relent. “We....meet while working on the particle accelerator. He was the structural engineer and he liked to joke he was basically a high-priced plumber.”

She smiled faintly and the sadness in her eyes made Carrie regret asking. Caitlin kept speaking though, as she moved towards the printer. “We were...very different. You've probably noticed I can be quite...guarded. But he...Ronnie knew how to make me laugh. He always would say we were like fire and ice.”

The way Caitlin was looking at her left ring finger had Carrie leaving her chair and moving around the desk to place a supportive hand on Caitlin's shoulder. The older woman trembled as she said softly: “He wasn't supposed to be there that night. He was there to be with me.. If he hadn't---”

The printer right beside Caitlin whirred, spitting out the results they had been waiting for; she snatched it up before Carrie could.

“This says there is no residue of gas in the tissue, poisonous or otherwise.”

Carrie fought the urge to swear. “It must have evaporated... We'll need to get a fresh sample...”

“Wait...this can't be right....” Caitlin was frowning as she continued to read over the printout; she handed the print out to Carrie. “It says there are two distinct strands of DNA in the tissue!”

Glancing between the printout and the monitor of her computer, Carrie frowned as well. “How did someone else's DNA get inside the victim's lungs?” Leaning forward, she began to run the foreign DNA though the database as Caitlin paced back and forth behind her; it beeped back at her after a few moments. “There's no DNA match in the database...”

Caitlin stopped her pacing to lean in over Carrie's shoulder to view the monitor. “I don't understand, why would a chemical attack leave behind another person's DNA inside the victim?”

Her thought's racing, Carrie looked over at the other woman. “What if the meta-human we're looking for doesn't control gas....but becomes it?”

The police scanner crackled to life on Carrie's desk as the dispatcher's voice filled the lab. “All available units, we have reports of a toxic gas attack in Central City shopping mall.”

Carrie was on her feet but Caitlin was reaching for the younger woman's shoulder. “Carrie, no! We don't know what were facing it's not safe for you to go out there!”

“...Caitlin, I have to,” she pleaded with her friend. “People are in danger. And I'm not going in alone. I'll have you, Cisco, and Dr Wells there with me.”

She wasn't expecting the bear-hug Caitlin gave her, but she appreciated it.


	5. Chapter 5

“I patched into the mall's security system,” Cisco said in her ear as she raced towards the Mall. “According to the witnesses the attack took place in the North Wing.”

“Which one if the North Wing?” she asked.

“The one with the Big Belly Burger,” Dr Wells told her. Cisco must have given him a look because she heard: “I eat.”

She sped through the crowd, a red blur; she was beside the victim and checked for a pulse.

Nothing.

Time seemed to have stopped for everyone else as she rose up, looking around and into the crowd for something or someone that looked out of place. And then she saw it, a trail of green gas leading through a still partially open door.

She sped forward after it and skidded to a halt in time to see the green gas taking solid shape, turning back into a stocky bald man.

“Why did you kill that woman?” she shouted at his back; he turned towards her slowly.

Was he....wheezing? It sounded like he was wheezing as he spoke. “Because she deserved to die. No go run away, I still have one more name on my list – don't make me add you to it.”

The rage bubbled in her insides at his arrogance, his lack of regard for what he had done and she lunged forward at super-speed, charging at him. When she tried to grab him, it was like her hand went through him and he smirked at her. His form seemed to waver before he slammed a fist against her face, sending her to the ground.

Her face hurt and she wondered for a moment of he had loosened any of her teeth or broke her cheekbone. God he was strong!

She was up, lashing out with a punch to his midsection. This time he turned into that sickly green gas that swirled past her. She spun and felt terror grip her as the gas filled the hallway before it lunged at her.

It felt like he had punched her in the face again and she was sent flying back into the wall. She pushed herself back to her feet and that was when a tendril of the gas came at her, circling around her throat, forcing itself up into her nostrils and mouth.

It burned her lungs and she gasped while slumping to the side. There was a utility ladder that she grabbed at as the gas retreated back. Her vision was darkening and she couldn't breath, Oh God she couldn't breath and she was so scared---

She hit the ground and faintly she could hear Dr Wells in her ear; there was concern in his voice, making it tighter, harsher.

“Carrie? Carrie, can you hear me?”

“Her---” she could barely hear what Cisco was saying as she pushed herself back to her feet.

Run.

She had to run.

Back to STAR Labs.

Back to Dr Wells.

She almost barreled into the monitor; to be honest the journey between the mall and STAR Labs was something she didn't remember. It had probably been done on autopilot.

Turning to Dr Wells, she was gasping, wheezing as she reached out for him in despair. “I can't breath!”

She sagged, falling towards the wheel-chair bound scientist. He caught her, a strong hand on her bicep and literally hauling her into his lap as she gasped desperately for air. Her lungs burnedburnedburned---

“She needs oxygen!” Dr Wells said to Cisco. “Get the crash cart! We need to stabilize her for Caitlin!”

Things were getting dimmer, but she could feel Dr Well's arms, strong and reassuring, around her, helping hold her up on his lap and it...made things less scary.


	6. Chapter 6

Perhaps it was the fact she couldn't breath, her vision dimming, that the fact her suit's jacket was open and baring her chest didn't bother her. Dying sort of overrode her normal modesty. She could faintly remember Dr Wells discarding her belt and cowl before practically ripping her jacket open as Cisco was returning with the crash cart.

Things were blurry but she could feel as Cisco lifted her from Dr Wells's lap and she fell back onto the medical bed. Blindly she reached for Dr Wells's hand and felt his hand curling around hers.

“Carrie!” Caitlin sounded almost hysterical as she burst into the room; absently she wondered how many red lights the doctor had run to get here so fast. “Carrie!”

Her lungs burned, everything burned. She felt like she was sweating gallons. Damn that gas---the gas!

“C-cut---” She grabbed at Caitlin with her free hand as she leaned over her. “Cut me open! Poison---still inside---”

“She brought us a sample,” Dr Wells murmured and lifted his eyes to Caitlin. “Caitlin, we need to do a pulmonary biopsy to extract and active portion of that gas.”

“I can't give you any anesthetic, your metabolism will burn right through it,” Caitlin warned her.

“I heal quick, remember?” she said with a wheeze and tried to give her a reassuring grin. 

“Do it.” Dr Wells said, his hand tight around Carrie's. She was grateful for that, for his strength.

“Cisco, give me the syringe.” Her vision was darkening so she couldn't really see what they were doing. But as Caitlin leaned in, she could see the worry on her face. “This is going to hurt a lot.”

“Its a small needle, you probably won't even feel it,” Cisco's voice was tinny as he tried to reassure her.

“You're definitely going to feel it,” Caitlin disagreed.

Carrie could see the needle glint in the darkness and she gripped Dr Well's hand so tightly she deliriously hoped she didn't break his fingers. And then it thrust down and she gave a gasping scream of pain, her body lifting up off the pillow.


	7. Chapter 7

She came too groggily; she honestly didn't remember passing out. Blinking blearily, she could hear the sounds of the various monitors she was hooked up to beeping in time with her heart. Carrie lifted her head, groaning faintly. God her chest ached something fierce...

“The Streak lives,” Cisco said cheerfully, reminding her of his presence and immediately Carrie pulled the still open jacket closed over her chest, monitors be damned. 

“You'd be dead if your lung cells didn't regenerate so quickly,” Caitlin chided her, safeguarding Cisco from the younger woman's embarrassment.

“My chest feels like that one time I took a puff off a cigarette,” she whimpered pitifully, causing the older woman to arch a brow at her. She gave the doctor a weak grin. “My attempt to be a rebel as a teenager.”

“This isn't funny, you could've--” Caitlin bristled.

“I didn't,” she reassured her while trying to sit up after pulling the monitors off her chest. 

Dr Wells spoke up from the computer he sat at. “Now that we have a sample we'll get to work analyzing it and figuring out the makeup of the poison, maybe get a clue to his human identity.”

“Or at least figure out a way to stop him from turning into a mist,” Cisco replied while helping her sit up; suddenly his eyes lit up. “The Mist! Okay, that is his name, end of discussion.”

“I have to get to the station,” she said hoarsely, fumbling with the jacket.

“You should be resting,” Dr Wells chided her, his tone disapproving as he pinned her with those blue eyes over his glasses.

She blushed hotly and fought the urge to crawl back on the medical bed. “I know but...I need to talk to Joe. I can't let him and the others go into harms way. I can come back and rest after.”

The corner of his lips turned down. “You will come back after. Caitlin will drop you off and you will return with her. Is that clear?”

Carrie nodded, still blushing. She didn't think she could draw enough breath to even jog it back to the department as it was.

\----

Joe was in her lab as she and Caitlin entered. “Joe!” 

He looked up from the file he was reading, his eyes flickering back and forth between them. “Care-bear. Dr Snow.”

“I had him” Carrie told him and he blinked at her. “The meta-human, we were wrong about him controlling airborne toxins. He can literally become a cloud of poison gas.”

He reeled back in surprise. “That's new.” He rose to his feet, walking toward them and showed Carrie the file he held; it was the victim from the Mall. “The victim was a judge. We're going through some of her old cases to see if there's a connection.”

“There has to be,” Carrie agreed. “He said there was one more name on his list when I confronted him.”

She hugged herself faintly. “I just hope I can find who that person is and protect them like...I couldn't...” her head bowed. “I couldn't save her. I should have been faster.”

“You got there in time to find out how he was doing it and almost got yourself gassed in the process!” Caitlin reminded her. “If it wasn't for getting to STAR Labs when you did and your own body's healing properties, you'd be one of his victims too.”

“Alright, you're telling me more about that later,” Joe told Caitlin before leveling a look at Carrie. “And you? Focus on the job at hand. Don't think about that right now.”

“...you probably don't want to know what I'm thinking about,” Carrie replied. She looked at the floor. “All I can think about is how I wasn't able to save Mom. About Dad spending fourteen years in a six by eight cell for something he didn't do. Of Danton Black hanging from my hands. That woman laying there in the elevator...”

She looked up at Caitlin and Joe. “It makes me wonder if I can really save my Dad. I could get him in and out of there before anyone knew what happened but...he'd...”

“Be a wanted fugitive?” Caitlin supplied and Carrie nodded.

“And he can't run as fast as you can,” Joe reminded her. “And I promised you, I will help you free him. I feel responsible, for not believing him...or you that night. So don't think I don't understand what you're feeling right now – I've been a cop for as long as you've been alive, Care-bear. And just like me putting on my badge and gun, you putting on that suit of yours won't automatically make everyone else safe.”

“He's right,” Caitlin agreed. “Super-speed or not, the odds are....for every one person you save, there will be another you can't. Even you need to sleep and recuperate.”

Joe put reassuring hands on Carrie's shoulders. “And the hardest thing you're going to have to face is not some monster out there, its going to be the feeling of uselessness of not being able to do anything...” He paused for a moment, pulling her in for a hug. “Or the guilt when you make a mistake. Some things you can't fight – there are things you have to live with.”


	8. Chapter 8

“You're supposed to be resting,” Caitlin told her as she sat beside her.

“I can't. Not when I haven't apologized for scaring you earlier...”

“Its okay. I get it – you had to go...” Caitlin took a shaky breath. “Its just...that was the last thing Ronnie said to me that night.”

Carrie wasn't sure what to say before blanking her mind and just...speaking, silently hoping she said something halfway comforting.

“My mother died fourteen years ago,” she said. “When I was younger I thought the further I got away from it, the less it would hurt but...it doesn't. Some days, the pain is worse than the day it actually happened. Some things...you just can't fight.”

Caitlin swallowed thickly. “For so long....I have been terrified of going into that hole.”

“I'll go with you if you want,” Carrie offered. “That way if you want out I can have you back topside....”

\------

Caitlin was trembling as she stared at the 'hole' where Cisco and Dr Wells had been repairing the pipeline to turn it into a prison. Carrie reached out, taking the older woman's hand in hers. There was a quick squeeze of thanks from that clammy hand.

From the paleness of her face and the way her eyes were dilated, Carrie could tell Caitlin was remembering.

“He...” her voice, normally so calm and collected, was hoarse. “...saved so many lives that day and no one will ever know what he did....”

“I do,” Carrie squeezed her hand reassuringly. “And he was a hero.”

“I didn't want him to be a hero,” Caitlin sniffled. “I wanted him to be my husband...”

She pulled Caitlin to her, embracing the older woman who sobbed softly into her shoulder for several moments until...

Cisco's voice came over the intercom. “Carrie? Caitlin? Are you down there? You gotta come look at this!”

They separated, Carrie giving Caitlin's shoulder a supportive squeeze before they headed back upstairs.

\------

“Check this out!” Cisco waved them over to the monitor. There was a 3D model of a molecule on the monitor; Carrie stared at it, struck by its complexity and beauty. “Its a 3D molecular model of the gas we retrieved from your lungs.”

“We have identified the toxin,” Dr Wells added.

She stared at the model. “Hydrogen cyanide?”

He hummed in agreement, taking a sip from his metal travel mug. “What's interesting is what's mixed in with the cyanide: A sedative.”

“Of course,” Carrie breathed and her eyes lit up, turning to Caitlin, “The night of the explosion – we have to find out if anyone was executed!”

“Why?” Dr Wells glanced over at her, arching a dark brow as Caitlin hurried over to a nearby computer.

“That sedative is given to criminals on death row right before they go into the gas chamber and breath in hydrogen cyanide,” she explained.

“That's right,” Dr Wells hissed softly.

“There was someone executed,” Caitlin confirmed from her monitor, putting the mug shot up on the main monitor, replacing the 3D model. “Kyle Nimbus.”

“That's him!” Carrie confirmed.

“He was a hit man for the Darbinyan crime family – they turned on him and testified,” Caitlin said. “Judge Teresa Howard was the judge who presided over his trial; she was the one who sentenced him to death.”

“He must have been affected by the explosion while he was being gassed,” Dr Wells speculated.

“Records indicate that the execution was completed,” Cisco murmured.

“That's why there wasn't a match!” Carrie exclaimed, looking over at Dr Wells. “The DNA database only contains samples from the living!”

“Right,” he replied.

A thought struck her and she looked back at the primary monitor. “He said there was one more name on his list – check the arrest record.” She moved over the where Caitlin was at the computer. “Who caught him? That could be the next target...”

Caitlin jerked up and looked at Carrie in horror. “Carrie...the lead detective...it was Joe.”


	9. Chapter 9

She was pacing frantically back and forth, just one movement away from doing so at her super-speed. And then the line clicked as it was picked up. Finally! “Eddie!”

“Carrie? What's up?”

“Do you know where Joe is? He's not picking up his cell.”

“Uh...” she could hear the hesitation in his voice. “I'm not sure...”

“Eddie, this is important! Joe had me looking for connections between the gas-attack victims and I found it and he could be next on the list!” She blurted out.

“What?!” She could hear the sound of Eddie possibly falling over in his chair.

“Eddie!”

“Shit! Don't worry he should be fine, he went to Iron Heights to see your Dad, there's no way anyone would be crazy enough to attack him there,” Eddie reassured her. “Do you now how they're doing it?”

“ Not yet. Just call him and let him know to be careful in case someone's waiting when he comes back out,” she pleaded.

“I will.”

She hung up her phone and took a breath as Caitlin approached her. 

“Carrie, I was able to reverse-engineer an antidote,” she said as Carrie pulled on the Flash suit. “I hope you won't need it.”

“You and me both.”

\--------

There was panic racing through her veins, as fast as she was racing through the streets towards Iron Heights Prison. 

“Carrie,” Cisco's voice was reassuring in her ear. “I pulled up the spec for Iron Heights – its maximum security but I should be able to walk you through getting in there.”

“Don't bother. I've been figuring out how to break into that place since I was eleven,” she replied.

Joe and one of the guards was on the concrete floor when she arrived. She was kneeling beside her foster father as he shuddered, convulsing on the ground. Retrieving the antidote, she stuck the syringe to the side of his neck and depressed the plunger; it emptied into his jugular and the convulsing stopped.

She could feel eyes on her and she looked up, over at where...her father stood on the other side of the lass that separated the inmates form their visitors. Her father was looking at her with wide eyes.

And their their eyes meet and so many thoughts ran through her mind. She could get him out right now. She shouldn't let him get a good look at her face. She could---

Joe gasped, dragging her attention back to him.

“Go get him,” Joe wheezed at her.

She nodded and under the eyes of both her fathers, sped from the room.


	10. Chapter 10

He was walking down the road leading from the prison when she came to a halt in front of him. He was wheezing slightly as he regarded her.

“So...come to finish what the gas chamber couldn't?

“You...” she hissed, “are going somewhere were you can't hurt anyone else ever again!”

“Wrong,” he was grinning as he dissipated into that lethal mist, which expanded to stretch across the road and grow upwards.

Oh shit. 

So not good.

“You need to stay away from him, Carrie!” Caitlin said over the comm in he rear. “Do not breath him in!”

She was trying that, moving away from him in spurts of speed while trying to think of a way she could literally punch a wall of lethal gas that was following her around.

“I'm really not sure how that helps!” she yelped, zipping back again and around the pillar of gas that came at her.

The gas reformed into Nimbus and he was storming at her, his hands clenched. 

Solid at last! 

She sped forward, lunging forward---and he dissipated again, allowing her to pass right through him. With a thud she hit the pavement and rolled back up into a low crouch.

“You can't fight him, Carrie,” Caitlin said in her ear. “Just keep him coming at you, that should sap his strength.”

“Gas is the least stable form of matter,” Dr Wells informed her. “This meta-human will not be able to stay in his mist form for long. His particles will need to reform.”

“Right,” she breathed and watched as the green gas came at her again.

It probably looked strange to anyone watching, the green mist chasing the blurs of red swathed in gold lightning. She paused once, to glance over her shoulder at him.

Still coming. 

Immediately she took off again, letting him chase her down the road. After a few more moments, she stopped again.

The mist was still coming. Slower this time until it finally rolled to a near stop, condensing in the form of Kyle Nimbus. He was breathing heavily, sweat rolling down his face. 

Maybe...?

He dissipated again, charging at her once more. It wasn't as fast as before and his form wasn't as widespread. The mist lunged and she dove to the side, rolling down the embankment on the side of the road.

Carrie was back on her feet, watching the green mist shrinking back down, assuming his human form again. He staggered, falling to a knee while wheezing loudly. 

Nimbus swayed slightly and she charged forward, using the momentum she had built to make her punch stronger than it would normally be; he flew back a decent amount, skidding back over the pavement. Carefully she approached his downed, wheezing form until she stood over him.

His eyes were unfocused and then they closed as he lost consciousness.

“Carrie,” Dr Wells' voice was in her ear and she felt her heart race and a hot blush rise. There was a sense of urgency in his voice when he repeated her name. “Carrie!”

“We win,” she told him, panting slightly.

\-----

She had fallen asleep, curled up awkwardly in the visitor's chair of Joe's room. It was her turn to stay with him and exhaustion had taken over. When she opened her eyes she saw he was awake and watching her, a faint smile on his face.

“Its been a while since I've watched you sleep, Care-bear,” he said.

“Its been a long day,” she gave him a tired grin and faint chuckle. “And rescuing you can be exhausting.”

He made an amused sound. “I really miss the ability of being able to ground you.”

She unfolded her long legs and rose up, making her way to his bedside, where she perched on the edge of his bed. “Sorry – Iris and I went and grew up on you.”

He reached a hand out and she took it.

“...I think...my Dad saw my face at Iron Heights.”

“He might have. He's an observant and intelligent man,” Joe agreed. “Thought you were going to be more careful?”

“I was scared. Seeing you on the ground like that...it reminded me of...”

….of Mom.

He nodded.

“I don't like keeping this a secret. Not from him. Or from Iris. And if we're going to be catching meta-criminals, we can't keep them locked up illegally in STAR Labs. The DA and Police have to know we are out there,” she added. “Nimbus...is legally dead and a murderer and an all around evil man but he's still a person. He still has rights.”

“I know. Figuring out how to bring it up...” Joe started and was cut off by Iris's call.

“Daddy!”

Joe groaned faintly in pain as Iris just about flung herself onto him.

“Easy, sis, we want him out of here as soon as possible, not keep him in for a while,” Carrie teased.

“Oh shush. I'm fine,” Joe grunted, patting Iris's back. “Don't worry.”

“I'll let you guys talk,” Carrie singsonged and gave Eddie a discreet thumbs up before vacating the room at swift – but not super – speed.

At least someone's secret would be out tonight!

\------

She was in Iron Heights again, this time sitting across from her Dad. They picked up the phones at the same time.

“Joe's going to be okay,” she told him and smiled at him faintly. “...you know, i've been thinking about Mom a lot lately.”

“Because of Joe reopening the case?”

“Mmhmm.” she nodded and sighed. “...I miss her.”

“Did I ever tell you about the time you learned to walk, Princess?” He asked her.

She laughed faintly. “A couple times, yeah.”

“Everyone was walking before you were. All the little babies running around the neighborhood, but not you. But your Mom didn't worry, just said when you had some place to go, then you'd walk. And she was right. Because sure enough, the time you took your first steps, you didn't just walk, you ran....right into your Mom's arms. Because finally, you had some place to go.”


End file.
